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City tests out a shelter for homeless people who are drunk

GroundUpThe Sober Space project caters for the intoxicated in need of a bed By Matthew Hirsch Bonelwa Xaka lived on the streets of Cape Town for more than five years. Now she is a peer support specialist in a “Sober Space” pilot project in Cape Town, set up to offer a place to homeless people … Read more [...] Read more...

No to March and March, says Dunoon leadership

ContributorCommunity leaders say immigration laws should be enforced by the state, not vigilantes By Peter Luhanga Community leaders in Dunoon have moved to shut down plans by anti-immigrant groups to march through the township, warning that the campaign against foreign nationals risks inflaming tensions and destabilising a fragile local economy. The intervention by local leaders … Read more [...] Read more...

Social housing to be built at Salt River Market by August 2028

GroundUpLand formerly owned by City of Cape Town has been handed to Communicare By Matthew Hirsch More than a decade since the City first earmarked the Salt River Market for social housing, it has finally been handed over to the developer, Communicare. Communicare will contribute R40-million of its own funds and expects to receive a … Read more [...] Read more...

Government waking up to using empty military land for housing

GroundUpAn estimated 67,000 homes could be built at Ysterplaat, Wingfield and Youngsfield By Matthew Hirsch/GroundUp For decades, housing activists have been calling for under-used military land in Cape Town to be released for housing. This includes about 668 hectares of well-located land at the Wingfield and Ysterplaat airbases, adjacent to Century City, and at Youngsfield, … Read more [...] Read more...

Dozens evicted from informal settlement in Green Point

GroundUpDA ward councillor says the eviction follows a long process of engagement with the group By Matthew Hirsch/GroundUp Chaos erupted near the Cape Town stadium, along Granger Bay Boulevard in Green Point on Wednesday, when a group of about 40 people living in makeshift shelters were forcibly removed. By lunchtime, a bucket loader was breaking … Read more [...] Read more...

Sea Point’s Tafelberg plans sent back to the drawing board

GroundUpHeritage committee and local residents’ association raise alarm over lack of detail in the current development proposal By Matthew Hirsch/GroundUp The future of the long-contested Tafelberg site in Sea Point was top of the agenda at a Heritage Western Cape meeting earlier this month. Last year, it was reported that the Western Cape government has … Read more [...] Read more...

Adderley Street flower sellers oppose planned rules and tariffs

GroundUpCity of Cape Town wants to upgrade the market and alter longstanding arrangements By Ashraf Hendricks/GroundUp Flower sellers at the iconic Trafalgar Place in Adderley Street are concerned that a new plan by the City of Cape Town will change how their market operates. People have been selling flowers at the market for more than … Read more [...] Read more...

Fishers fight offshore oil and gas drilling

GroundUpTotalEnergies taken to court over plans to drill wells off the west coast By Liezl Human/GroundUp Small-scale fishers and environmental organisations were in the Cape High Court on 23 March in a bid to halt oil and gas exploration by TotalEnergies along the West Coast. The case was brought by the Aukotowa small-scale fishing cooperative … Read more [...] Read more...

The beauty of small things

Steve KretzmannIn a world scarred by ecocide, Lizzie Gaisford’s finely crafted debut solo album calls us to attend to what remains There’s got to be a word for that specific kind of grief, sings Lizzie Gaisford on the fourth track of her debut solo album Love the Land, which is a poem, almost a requiem, for … Read more [...] Read more...

Volvo power: it’s electrifying

Jackie CruzeThe marque’s offerings are making us rethink our penchant for petrol The shift to electric vehicles (EVs) is real, and even more so now we’re facing a looming oil crisis. Swedish car maker Volvo is ostensibly near the forefront of the electric charge, with a broad range of EVs and an upcoming launch on the … Read more [...] Read more...

Payday to payday gig guide – April vibes

Rosa-Karoo LoeweWe get all those public holidays this April, why not use some of them? Theatre Death and comedy, a surprisingly fun pair. Louw Venter and Rob van Vuuren (directing) open their sequel to The Best Man’s Speech, which ran at the Kalk Bay Theatre for five years before becoming the feature film Konfetti. Now, Dead … Read more [...] Read more...

Housing for locals: City can do more

Steve KretzmannWith a backlog of 600,000 housing units and the state only providing 2,500 a year, the City has to incentivise the private sector to step in Although Cape Town is the leading municipality in the provision of state-funded housing, it has a housing crisis. According to Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis the city has a shortfall of … Read more [...] Read more...

Iconic Good Hope Centre auctioned by City amidst civic opposition

Steve KretzmannMore than 50 municipal land parcels across the city are being sold to the highest bidder while locals suffer a housing availability crisis The City’s plan to auction the iconic turtle-shaped Good Hope Centre along with other parcels of municipal land across the city on 26 February was met with protests, legal challenges, and a … Read more [...] Read more...

City land auction at odds with affordable housing commitments

Steve KretzmannThe City’s auctioning of 53 parcels of land without any requirements for the provision of social or affordable housing is not aligned to the City’s affordable housing commitments, states the Development Action Group. In a statement released on 25 Feb, the Development Action Group (DAG) noted the High Court’s dismissal of applications seeking to postpone … Read more [...] Read more...

District Six families vow to fight eviction

GroundUp“Who would have thought back then that it would have turned out like this today” says 69-year-old resident By Matthew Hirsch/GroundUp Six District Six families living in historic semi-detached Victorian cottages on Searle Street, who withstood apartheid forced removals but now face eviction, say they will fight on despite a magistrates’ court judgment in December … Read more [...] Read more...

Court stops shacks from being built on District Six

GroundUpCity battles land occupation as restitution process drags on By Matthew Hirsch/GroundUp The length of time it is taking to settle District Six claims is leaving the land vulnerable to illegal occupation, creating difficulties for the City, although resettlement of the area is the national government’s responsibility. In January, the City had to obtain a … Read more [...] Read more...

South African Cap Classique: Fizzing to the top

Sadé AllcockThe Brits have a wonderful expression for sparkling wine: Fizz. “C’mon let’s get a bottle of fizz.” “How do you feel about a bit ‘o fizz?” “A bit more of the fizz there will you?” Its delightful, especially as fizz is one of those words that sounds exactly like the thing it’s describing. Onomatopoeia. ‘Fizz’ … Read more [...] Read more...

The Gusheshe takes its place in local motoring history

Jackie CruzeA luxury book on BMW’s half-century in South Africa sheds light on the cars we love You know a car manufacturer has won South Africans’ hearts when ’kasi slang gets attached to its models, and for us, it’s the BMW 3-series. The fourth-generation 3-series (E46) is generically known as the G-string because it’s a panty-dropper. … Read more [...] Read more...

GroundUpZeekoevlei is used by schools and clubs for sailing and rowing but a toxic algal bloom has led to it being closed since December By Matthew Hirsch/GroundUp Zeekoevlei, which is used by numerous sailing, rowing, and other recreational clubs, has been closed since December due to dangerous levels of toxins caused by algal blooms. The … Read more [...] Read more...

March gigs in the mother city

Rosa-Karoo LoeweTheatre I watched The Stranger at the National Arts Festival in 2024, I think. It felt like my soul dropped into the underworld; some people were lulled to sleep, hypnotised. You leave blinking back reality. A ritual drama of love, consciousness, and impermanence, on 27 and 28 Feb at Theatre Arts, Observatory. Brett Bailey’s reworked … Read more [...] Read more...

Social housing planned to be built at Salt River Market this year

GroundUpFunding is secured, but about 50 families living in an informal settlement still need to be relocated By Matthew Hirsch Funding has been secured to build social housing at the Salt River Market site, but about 50 families living in an informal settlement on the property still need to be relocated. Social housing institution Communicare … Read more [...] Read more...

Inner city: no room for locals

Steve KretzmannShort-term letting through various platforms, including Airbnb, locks up 70% of residential units in the central city There is a severe shortage of rental stock for local residents in Cape Town’s inner city, and what is available is priced beyond the reach of the majority of Capetonians. With a median household income of just over … Read more [...] Read more...

Six ways to implement rent control in Cape Town

GroundUpRenting a home close to the city has become unaffordable even for many middle-class households By Gabbi le Roux, Adam Narain, and Jonty Cogger From 2023 to 2024, the average rent in the Western Cape increased by 10%, about R1,020. If we narrow it down to Cape Town, the numbers are higher. According to a … Read more [...] Read more...

A price tag does not luxury determine

Sadé AllcockUpon arrival at the Dunstone A.R.T WINE Exhibition in Wellington you are greeted with a golf cart and a quick joyride from your car up to the start of the ‘Art Walk’. You will later realise that this was the highlight of your day. At the drop-off point you are met by a friendly face … Read more [...] Read more...

Bass Benz to rock socks at DeafRow sound-off

Jackie CruzeCape Town’s car audio crews get together for a thunderous showdown of note every year in November. The DeafRow Audio Bragging Rights Sound-Off is now in its 18th year, and the event has grown from a small gathering of enthusiasts into a fixture on the local motoring calendar. Jackie Cruze had a chat with Zaid … Read more [...] Read more...

Nov/Dec gig guide

Rosa-Karoo LoeweIt’s that final push to the end of the year, we are all scraping through to Dezembaaaa! And sjoe! Cape Town, you don’t make it easy to be frugal with such kiff summer happenings. Theatre A Ru Paul’s Drag Race diva, Latrice Royale and All Stars alum, sings, jokes, and lip-syncs in Terms and Conditions … Read more [...] Read more...

District Six claimants wonder if they’ll live long enough to get their houses back

Contributor“Hopefully, the next generation will perhaps benefit,” says 77-year-old claimant By Matthew Hirsch While successful claimants wait for the government to secure funding to complete the long-awaited redevelopment of District Six, more than 700 further claimants might not live to see their rights restored. 2,760 people who lodged claims for District Six before the initial … Read more [...] Read more...

Pharmaceuticals accumulating in Zandvlei estuary

Steve KretzmannScientists show pollution of the estuary is not sufficiently diluted, but persists in the environment Sewage pollution is believed to be causing the persistent presence of drugs such as paracetamol and antibiotics in the ecologically important Zandvlei Estuary at Muizenberg, Cape Town. According to a paper recently published in the journal Water by scientists from … Read more [...] Read more...

Pro-poor budget: Struggle to get municipal subsidies

Steve KretzmannSubsidies on water, sanitation, and refuse charges for indigent households and homes caring for vulnerable people have not necessarily been automatically applied since 1 July The City’s new “pro-poor” budget offers significant rebates and subsidies to organisations caring for vulnerable people, but some qualifying homes are not seeing these benefits reflected on their municipal bills. … Read more [...] Read more...

Moffie: a near perfect reminder of indomitability

Steve KretzmannFollowing an acclaimed London run, this South African story needs to be seen at the Baxter There were sergeants in the apartheid army who could bark out 30 or more words in an unbroken stream to create an extended insult involving bodily functions, body parts, bodily fluids, animals, familial relationships, and sex. The most talented … Read more [...] Read more...